Leviticus 22:4 MEANING



Leviticus 22:4
(4) Is a leper.--The different forms of uncleanness are now specified. (For the leper, see Leviticus 13:3.)

Or hath a running issue.--See Leviticus 15:2.

Whoso toucheth any thing that is unclean by the dead.--That is, if he touches any person or anything that had been defiled through contact with a corpse. (See Numbers 19:11-14.)

Whose seed goeth from him.--This is the same case mentioned in Leviticus 15:16. The two passages ought therefore to be uniform in the translation.

22:1-33 Laws concerning the priests and sacrifices. - In this chapter we have divers laws concerning the priests and sacrifices, all for preserving the honour of the sanctuary. Let us recollect with gratitude that our great High Priest cannot be hindered by any thing from the discharge of his office. Let us also remember, that the Lord requires us to reverence his name, his truths, his ordinances, and commandments. Let us beware of hypocrisy, and examine ourselves concerning our sinful defilements, seeking to be purified from them in the blood of Christ, and by his sanctifying Spirit. Whoever attempts to expiate his own sin, or draws near in the pride of self-righteousness, puts as great an affront on Christ, as he who comes to the Lord's table from the gratification of sinful lusts. Nor can the minister who loves the souls of the people, suffer them to continue in this dangerous delusion. He must call upon them, not only to repent of their sins, and forsake them; but to put their whole trust in the atonement of Christ, by faith in his name, for pardon and acceptance with God; thus only will the Lord make them holy, as his own people.What man soever of the seed of Aaron is a leper,.... A young, or an old man, as the Targum of Jonathan, and indeed man or woman; for the wives and daughters of the priests, if in this, and other circumstances following, might not eat of the holy things until cleansed, who otherwise might, see Leviticus 13:2,

or hath a running issue; a gonorrhoea, whether man or woman, Leviticus 15:2,

he shall not eat of the holy things until he be clean; he might eat of the tithes, but not of the wave breast, or heave shoulder:

and whoso toucheth any that is unclean by the dead; not only that touched the dead, which made unclean, but that touched any person or thing that was made unclean by it:

or a man whose seed goeth from him; involuntarily when asleep, in a dream, and through a lustful imagination; see Leviticus 15:16.

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